Summer Garden

There was something about this spring that made me plant a big garden. Was it the pandemic with limited food supply? Probably. I wasn't alone, many people have decided to grow gardens this year. Seeds were in limited supply, I was happy to have found some early on at our local feed store.

I couldn't plant in my normal plot as it had been taken over by Johnson grass and I decided I wasn't going to battle that horrible weed another year. I moved it across the yard near the tortoise pen. The ground was hard and not that great quality. Since there was no planning involved I didn't cover it last fall with mulch, which is a great way to turn crappy soil into nice soil. We do have a small electric tiller and I was able to scrape up the top few inches and get some seeds planted.

It's growing well now. We had a large round hay bale that got too wet when our tarp failed this spring so Sean used the skid steer to take it over to the garden for me to mulch it with. It was probably 700 pounds of hay I put down around the plants and walkways. Hay does a wonderful job of mulching the plants and keeping the moisture in the ground and keeping the roots cool and happy. I've had great luck with the deep mulching method of gardening. No weeds, very little watering and happy productive plants. It's a win win.

I'm not real great about remembering where I planted everything. I tend to draw up a garden plan and then make changes on the fly and not write them down. So this giant mass of vines came up and I assumed they were one of the three varieties of melon I planted (we LOVE melon). The vine kept growing and producing about 20 of these "melons". Finally I had to get on YouTube to figure out they are spaghetti squash and not melons. That was kind of a let down. I like spaghetti squash just not 20 of them. I've read that they store well, so maybe I can eat them all winter.

The vine in this picture is one of the other melon varieties: Early Silver Line Melon

No garden is complete, in my mind, without at least a small plot of zinnias. They are so beautiful and bring in so many good pollinators.

We've had a great haul so far with zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, blackberries and spaghetti squash. The early melons are almost there and there are no less than 20 little watermelons growing, the kids are particularly excited about those (which makes me happy). Happy gardening y'all!

We have a teenager!

It's crazy to think my first born is now a teenager! Happy 13th birthday to Wesley! Since these times are a bit strange and gatherings are frowned upon we decided to rent out the local swimming pool for two hours in the evening and invite just a few people to swim and celebrate his birthday. It was sure fun!

Ditch Deer

Back in March the kids and I were doing some pretty long bike rides trying to get out of the house during state wide lock downs. It kept us busy and away from people since we are out in the country. On one of the rides we were out on a country road near a large drainage ditch for a field and took a break in the shade. The ditch had large chunks of concrete and among the concrete were these sad little concrete deer someone had tossed. They were missing ears and tails and parts of their legs but the rebar was still there.

Greta insisted we save them so once we got home the truck was taken back and the deer picked up. One was a buck and the other a doe and it turns out their fawn was in the ditch as well but it's head had broken off and was beyond repair.

The poor things sat under a large tree for nearly two months before I got around to figuring out a plan for their repairs. My dad mentioned Bondo might work so I ordered a tub of that off of Amazon. It was considered "non-essential" so it took a couple of weeks to get here.

I went out on a 95 degree day and sat under the tree in full vapor mask and mixed up the Bondo into a gooey paste and attempted to "sculpt" ears and a tail and fix the cracks. I didn't really know anything about Bondo but it set up within a minute or two so I had to work fast.

The definitely aren't perfect but it will work. I used a hand sander and sanded down the Bondo and went out and spray painted them last week. While painting them I saw 1961 stamped on their sides. The little antique ditch deer have a new lease on life.

Random This and That

The pool made it through the winter. We weren't sure how an inexpensive above ground pool would fair through our midwest winters but it did alright. We lowered the water below the filter lines, put winterizer in it and covered it with a pool tarp and then coated it with this blue shrink wrap to keep the cover on. It worked for a few months before our crazy wind got it off. So we re-shrink wrapped it and it made it into February before once again blowing the cover off. This time we just left it off since it was so close to spring. The down side to not recovering it was the water started growing stuff so we had to pump it out (fried our pond pump doing this) and scrub it down. I hope this fall we are able to come up with a better solution to keep the cover on. The kids are sure enjoying the pool again this season.

I had blogged about our progress on the walnut grove fence project. Sean welded the fence along the front of the property and we were able to get cattle panels attached so no goats make a run for it through the large areas in the fence. We are pretty happy with how it turned out. Now we just have the other three sides of this never ending project to finish.

Things are still weird in our world regarding coronavirus. Most restaurants have reopened, some with their lobby open some still with only curbside pickup. We've started a fun tradition of picking up food and going to a nearby church lawn and having a picnic dinner. We were finding our food was soggy by the time we made the 30 minuted drive home so this way we enjoy these beautiful evenings and have fresh food. It's a win win!

A couple of years ago we stumbled upon a local bike trail that connects several small towns around us. Wesley and I have ridden it before and had a great time so we invited my folks who were still in town for a ride. Greta also joined us as she's become a pretty confident bike rider. It was sure fun! We will have to go again soon.

The Bird House

Do you know how I can tell it's Spring? I fall into bed at night totally exhausted. I don't think I could cram one more thing into these days. I do love Spring and Summer. Well my chicks hatched. The ones is the incubator and the ones under the broody hen. I bought 11 hatching eggs from a gal I found online (5 guinea eggs and 6 chicken eggs). I put the majority of the chicken eggs under the broody hen and the guinea eggs in the incubator. The hen hatched out the chicken eggs no problem. I checked her for several days collecting the little balls of fluff and put them in the brooder. I felt awful taking them but our barn cats would not have allowed them to survive. I got 3 of the 5 guinea eggs to hatch in the incubator, I was hoping for all of them but oh well. I think incubators might be a little more tricky than I first thought.

Seven chicks and seven keets.

The first batch of guinea keets I bought at the feed store are now teenagers and outside doing well in their "nursery coop". I built a transitional coop in the back of the goat house so that they have a safe place to roost at night. Often times guineas roost in trees and are slowly picked off each night by owls. To prevent this it's good to train them to roost in a coop that can be shut each night. I moved out 10X10 foot dog kennel next to the new coop so they have an outdoor run while they are growing up.

It's bird central around here! It's been fun seeing what hatches and having little chicks and keets in the house. The kids are always over at the brooder feeding them dried meal worms through the little front window.

The Corona Chronicles entry #12

Day #74

It's strange writing day 74 up there. I mean we are still in a state of lockdown and the coronavirus is still very much effecting our lives. It's just become more normal these days. Perhaps we've all figured out how to live in this strange new world. Living with the virus. Knowing that it's out there and praying it doesn't come to visit anyone we know and love.

Our country just passed 100,000 people lost to COVID-19. I remember several months back when Dr. Fauci projected that we'd lose 100-260K people and it was a shocking number. Almost unreal. It's not unreal anymore. I feel like we'll probably surpass 260K at this rate. We are still losing 1,500 people a day and there is no end in sight, at least until a vaccine is released......which is likely a year away.

Our state is in phase two of reopening, I believe that now means hair salons and gyms can open along with restaurant lobbies and clothing stores. I've got to say I'm not interested in getting out there and patronizing these businesses that are now open. I'm happy that I'm able to go get a hair cut but I'm still not ready to subject myself to possibly getting infected. Maybe I'll get there one day? I'm still wearing a mask when I have to leave the house but I'm finding I'm one of the few people wearing one when I go to Lowes or Tractor Supply. Luckily I'm still in the majority of people wearing one at the grocery store which is good. I'm not sure why people have stopped (or never started) wearing one.

I find myself enjoying the time at home. This isn't really a big surprise as I'm pretty introverted and like to be alone. I like not having a structured calendar of events that I'm part of. I'm wondering how much I'll return to once everything opens back up. I find myself missing my church family but not missing the meetings and practices that I'm part of. It's so freeing knowing that my calendar is pretty clear for the foreseeable future. I've gotten so many things accomplished at home!

Stay safe!

Spring Happenings

I don't know if we get this lovely spring weather every year or that I'm just stuck at home and am forced to enjoy it.....but it's wonderful! It's between 65 and 75 degrees each day, not much wind. I've been getting so much stuff done. I tilled up a large plot next to the new strawberry bed and got about 12 seed packets planted of all different tasty goodies. The strawberry crowns that I planted in March are now full of flowers and partially grown strawberries. That's exciting!

We've had plans to fence in the front walnut grove ever since we moved in here 16 years ago. We've fenced in every other part of the property but that few acres has been put on hold for some reason (we're tired of fencing, that's the reason). Well, we think this is the year. Usually the weather goes from winter to summer with about 2 weeks of "spring" in between. So it's pretty easy to decide to put it off if the weather is already pushing 95 degrees in April. So Sean went up to the front pipe fence, that had some partially broken welds, and welded it up. He did a great job!

Since this pipe fence obviously won't contain goats, and really won't keep predators out we had to come up with a way to fortify it. We bought cattle panels from the feed store that we are going to clamp onto the pipe fence with stainless steel zip ties. Will it work? Who knows. It should keep goats in and dogs out but will it be pretty, perhaps not so much.

About a month ago two guinea fowl showed up at our property. They are very strange creatures that fly up into the trees to roost and make quite a bit of noise at dusk. They are also natures best bug eaters and will tell you if anyone or anything is happening on your property. The two guineas stayed with us for about 3 weeks before leaving and we really enjoyed them as did our closest neighbors. I talked with her and she said she'd love to have more of them around and they were a pleasure to watch out in the yard. So I went on the hunt for some hatching eggs (since chicks were hard to find especially right now when people are buying them up like crazy). A lady about half an hour away said she'd sell me some eggs so I went and picked them up and put them in my new incubator I got for my birthday (thanks Mom and Dad!). They should hatch the end of May if I'm doing it right.

I was at the feed store the beginning of last week getting some river rock for a project and since I was there I wandered back to their chick tanks. Low and behold they had six guinea keets sitting there. It's very rare to see them for sale in our area so I called up Sean and asked him ever so nicely if he minded six guinea keets in our living room. Of course he didn't care, he's cool like that. So now, best case scenario I have 11 keets the end of May, worse case the eggs don't hatch and I still have six. So I'm happy and the kids love looking in on these new babies and watching them scratch around and sleep all day.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe!

The Corona Chronicles entry #11

Day #48

Things have been good. It almost feels normal again. Maybe a new normal? We've all gotten into our own grove and routines have been made. Our state is about to start the first phase of opening up. I think we are all ready for a change and I hope the gradual opening is successful. There is a fear of an increase in Covid19 cases once people start milling around again. I think that's in the back of all of our minds.

Having a birthday during a pandemic really wasn't that much different than having a birthday during normal times. Sean asked me what I wanted to do as he took the day off to spend with me (he's a keeper), I said I wanted gravel to fill the large potholes on the driveway. It had gotten pretty bad so we got a load in the back of the truck and filled all the holes. It's so nice having a smooth driveway.

We haven't eaten out since this whole thing started the middle of March. I had been dreaming of eating mediterranean food from our favorite restaurant for weeks now and decided it was time for some delicious carry out. They make a wonderful vegan eggplant stew and their hummus wins awards so that's what I got. It was SO good and everything felt somewhat normal for a moment....even if the food was delivered to my car window by a woman in a mask and gloves.

Have I mentioned what a wonderful family I have? Well if I haven't in awhile I should. My husband has been very helpful and supportive of my crazy and often expensive hobbies. I mentioned how much I'd love to get that walnut grove fenced in for the goats and he said we should do it. So he went and welded the broken welds on the front pipe fence last weekend and we bought hog panels to attach to it (since the pipe fence does not work to keep goats in).  We also bought a 330 foot roll of cattle fencing to start attaching to the t-posts we installed several years ago. I'm just excited to be moving on this project again, it's a big project though!

The kids made me the best cards. Love these rugrats!

The Corona Chronicles entry #10

Day #33

The days seem to blur together. Sean and I often can't figure out what day of the week it is. He gets excited over Saturday because he doesn't have to work. I don't seem to get excited over the weekends anymore. I'm kind of in a rut.

The puppy is getting me up every morning at 6:20 on the dot which is not helping. You could set a clock to this. I don't know if there is something beeping in the laundry room each morning that wakes him up. How could he possibly awake at exactly 6:20 each morning? I'm not an early riser especially right now. There is no school to wake the kids up for, no work to get going on early, even Sean sleeps in a bit. So I get up with the pup, let him out and lay on the couch in the dark house with the hopes of all three dogs going back to sleep for at least an hour. What actually ends up happening is two of them viciously play with each other just inches from my head while bounding around roughly on my comatose body. I lay there with my arms and hands covering my head to protect it. They are so crazy and have so much energy. It's a bit much.

With all this time home I had great plans! I have several big outdoor projects along with a few indoor ones as well. Some are getting done and some are put on hold until nicer, more reliable weather rolls in. But most days I feel like this sums up my life:

I can't really relate to the tequila but everything else is spot on. I'm either flying high in a great mood or laying low walking around the house getting nothing done. I've found it's important for my mood if I get outside and go for a walk. Spring is hit or miss on good weather and we've been having a cold snap lately so the walks are few and far between.

I am so very grateful that I am able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. I was listening to NPR in the car the other day on the way to the feed store and they were interviewing a man that lives in Paris. He said they aren't allowed to leave their apartments without written permission. He was lucky to have a patio on his apartment but that many don't even have that luxury. They literally can't leave their apartment to even go outside. I feel so bad for these people. The outdoors are my escape. Go work in the dirt, grow something. Go for a bike ride or a run. Or even just sitting outside with my family. I am very grateful.

Pandemic Pup

Our little Cooper is blending in well with our crazy household. He's so different from the other dogs. The Boston Terriers are very high strung and Cooper is pretty much the complete opposite. He's very chill. Almost too chill. He has no interest in potty training. He urinates all over the place. We rolled up the rugs and gated off the rest of the house so we's only confined to the wood floors, but it's pretty bad. Puddles everywhere! He's only 3.5 months old so I'm hopeful he'll get the drift one of these days.

It's a good thing he's cute! He's got this strange habit of only sleeping upside down. We think he's part otter. I've taken to photographing him when he's upside down. Strange little critter.

The Corona Chronicles entry #9

Day #25

Did you know there is a term for stress shopping? Me either. It's oniochalsia.

oniochalasia. Noun. (uncountable) 

The purchasing of objects as a form of mental relaxation.

For the past three weeks I've been stress shopping. Maybe I should call it comfort shopping. It's been relaxing and has taken my mind off of the current situation. No, I haven't been buying expensive things, nothing that's going to break the bank. I've been indulging in adding to my Funko Pop collection. 

I've been collectiong Harry Potter Funko Pops for about a year and a half now. My plan was to only collect my favorite ones but then decided I needed the whole collection. There are currently 108 of them (and they keep releasing more each year). Before this whole pandemic started I had about 50. 

The place to find these things is on eBay. The majority of them have been vaulted (meaning they don't make them anymore) so finding them used is the only way to buy them. I found many people were selling off their collections in the past few weeks, which only seems logical in our countries  current financial situation. And they have been going through very inexpensively.....like $5 each plus shipping.

So I've been stress buying quite a few of the remaining funko pops I didn't have. They have been slowly and steadily trickling in, one here two there. I pick them up and pile them in our entrance way so they have their own little quarantine time (and then wash my hands).

That one in the bag? It's from New York City..it's not being touched for days!

This picture was taken about a week ago. There are many many more piled up now. Is this an illness? I'm going with no. But it did get me through the first two weeks of this craziness. It kept me from watching the news (and the train wreck WH briefings) and helped me to look forward to something when there wasn't a lot to look forward to. I'm done buying for now. I feel like things are starting to settle down, schedules are being put into place and there seems to be a light at the end of this very long tunnel (even though this week is one of the deadliest in our country from this virus).  

The Corona Chronicles entry #8

Day #23

Some days I feel very unprepared for all of this. The stores have been out of disinfecting supplies for the past month. Same with hand sanitizers, although I've never been a fan of that stuff. Even just disinfecting wipes are few and far between. I've been lucky enough to grab up two containers of Lysol wipes that I try not to over use. But when i have to leave the house I like to have something I can wipe my hands with that I know will kill the virus. So I came up with alcohol wipes. I always have containers of baby wipes lying all over the house. I use them for odd jobs and to wipe off the clay from my hands when I'm sculpting. I have several containers of rubbing alcohol so I just dump half a cup of alcohol into the package of baby wipes. I use them to wipe down the gas pump, door handle, gear shift knob and my hands when I get back in the car. Seems to work well.

I went and picked up my grocery order today. They were unable to fulfill about 10 items, several of which were essential things we needed (like almond milk). So I called up my mom who has been sewing face masks and asked if I could have one, she said yes (because she's awesome) and left enough for my family on their car windshield. They fit great! She did a wonderful job sewing them. Thanks Mom! I wore it into the grocery store to pick up the few items they couldn't fulfill (they were out of almond milk but had several soy milks).

I was happy to see at least half of the fellow shoppers were also wearing their masks, many of which looked homemade. It's just a strange feeling now when I have to leave the house. It's like the look in people's eyes is just *different*. I try and smile more (not that you can see if under my mask now) and show gratitude to all the grocery workers and checkers. What a strange world we are living in right now.

The Corona Chronicles entry #7

Day #20

I completely forgot about Easter being next weekend. It really crept up on me this year. Greta is pretty sad because it's one of her favorite holidays. Here I am without anything to fill their baskets, fill plastic Easter eggs or even dye eggs. I was pretty proud of myself for buying enough groceries to keep me out of the stores for at least 3 weeks.....so much for that idea. But then I remembered the option where they bring your groceries out to your car so I hopped on their site, filled my cart with candy, eggs, dye and a few other goodies and checked out. The earliest slot to pick it up is next Tuesday which is perfectly fine. I'm thrilled this is still an option.

I needed to run to the pharmacy yesterday and while I was out I had to fuel up the car. Boy was this shocking to see!  It might be worth it to drive each car in and fill it up.....but I probably won't.

I finally got back to work this week. This whole thing has made me completely unmotivated to sculpt. It could also be having the kids home. I'm very unmotivated in the summer as well, kids take away from my focus when they are home. But with them back doing school at home I was able to hide away in the bedroom and get three dogs sculpted, painted and photographed.  Perhaps we are all starting to figure out this whole sheltering at home thing.

The kids just finished their first week back at school (at home). They each use Google Classroom and do studies for each subject. I thought Greta would need more help from me than she actually did, so that was a nice surprise. Wesley already used Google Classroom all year so this wasn't much of a transition for him. So far so good!

The Corona Chronicles entry #6

Day #18

So the homesteader in me has exploded with the sweeping of the Coronavirus across our country. It has made me want to grow everything! I want more fruit trees, I want a huge garden, I NEED more baby chicks! Apparently I'm not alone. There are no baby chicks to be found (which is fine, I don't really NEED baby chicks). Apparently the US has been panic buying baby chickens like they did toilet paper. This happens often during stock market downturns and presidential election years......so add a pandemic in there and BOOM, you have the perfect storm.

One of my facebook friends went in to buy chicks when the feed store opened and they said the store sold 600 chicks in an hour. Woah! 

I hope, for the baby chicks sake, that these people buying them have done their research and know how to take care of them. Do they know the difference between a straight run chick or a pullet? What happens in 4 months when that chick starts to crow and they find out all their chicks are roosters? I might just wait this out and look on craigslist in 4 months for all the unwanted chickens. Let someone else raise them....that is, after all, the hardest part of chickens.

I spent the weekend tilling up a new plot for a big garden. I haven't done a big garden (30 foot by 30 foot) in several years. But this year I'm super excited! Maybe it's the stay-at-home order or maybe it's just me trying to stay busy but I think it's going to be epic. Luckily I had already bought seeds a few weeks ago because several seed companies have had to stop selling because of low stock. See, everyone has the same idea! I think we should all be doing this anyways, less dependence on the grocery stores is a good thing.

I'm grateful for the Tower Garden that was purchased two years ago. It's been a constant source of fresh lettuce, kale and basil. Those three things seem to grow the best and easiest for me. I just yanked all the old lettuce plants that had gone to seed and fed them to the tortoises. I started new lettuce seedlings and hope to be eating fresh salad in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to making some basil pesto for lunch today with the lone basil plant in the tower.

Take care all! 

The Corona Chronicles entry #5

Day #15

It's truly amazing how much the world has changed in a couple of weeks. I was telling the kids that it was hard to believe that two weeks ago we were picking out new track shoes for Wesley and new glasses for Greta.  We went to Jason's Deli and had a nice lunch and then had our teeth cleaned at the dentist. It feels like that happened months ago, rather than weeks.

Now our dentist has closed. The shoes sit in their box because track and school has been cancelled. Can't even take the shoes back because the store has been closed. 

The country pretty much shut down. Non-essential businesses have closed and the ones that are open have changed their practices in some way or another. Our vet clinic has closed the lobby and you call when you arrive and sit in your car until your turn. Then someone comes to your car and collects your pet and it's taken into the clinic. All correspondences are done over the cell phone. You even pay over the phone. Many retail stores, that are still open, will only deliver things to your car. Restaurants have closed with many now only offering take out or delivery. One story out of Seattle said out of work strippers were delivering food topless, that made me chuckle. Call me crazy but we are avoiding all food except for meals made at home. I want to keep my favorite restaurants in business but I'm not taking the chance of the cook being infected.

Our governor issued a stay-at-home order over the weekend so non-essential businesses are now closed. According to friends on social media most of the state hasn't gotten the memo yet and stores like Lowes and Wal-Mart have been packed with people that are tired of staying home. In our little town people are seen clustered together talking and kids are playing basketball in groups.  I feel like until it hits our community these people won't figure it out. Some sobering predictions came out of the White House today that predict 100-200K people could die in our country alone (that was a "best case scenario").  Needless to say this was a "can't stop watching the news day". It was raining out, what else is there to do?

I found hope in an interview with the CEO of Starbucks. He said they are just now slowly reopening the Starbucks over in China after being closed for 9 weeks. He said we are on week 2, so if all goes well we could possibly be reopening the country in 7 weeks. I find comfort in that number. We can do 7 more weeks.

The Corona Chronicles entry #4

Day #11

Yesterday was a good day. I kept the tv off. I didn't get online but twice. I put on my boots and went and tilled up the earth to prepare to plant a big box of strawberry crowns that showed up a few days ago. I forgot I even ordered them back in February. They were to ship when it was time to plant them. I was happy to see them on the porch! What a great time to grow fresh food in my back yard.

I'm planning a giant vegetable and flower garden this year. The kids will be involved in every step so they learn the value of growing their own food. We haven't grown a large garden in years because they do take a lot of work and are difficult to leave for summer vacation. We figure this year would be a good year for one since we haven't planned a vacation and aren't sure we are even going to take one. 

 I'm trying to not talk about what is happening in our world with my kids. They are fully aware but I don't get too deep into it. They are 10 and 12 years old and old enough to know and understand but they don't need to worry. They need to be kids and not be burdened with major problems. After the teacher parade the other day I noticed Greta was withdrawn. I asked her what was wrong and she said nothing and went to her room with tears in her eyes. I went and laid down next to her and we chatted. She wouldn't fully open up but I understood her tears and sadness. We all feel that way off and on. It was fun to see the teachers but it also made it all the more real...and sad.

 Keeping the kids busy has also been important. I'm trying to come up with fun things to keep them learning and happy. They collected snails out of the koi pond and wanted to set up a small aquarium that they could keep them in. So now we have an aquarium full of snails in Greta's room. I spent a large part of my childhood crouched next to a pond fishing out snails so it brought back memories. I told them to go search for snail eggs in a slimy mass. Sure enough after 10 minutes Greta comes running up to me with a leaf full of slimy snail eggs (that is also now in the aquarium so we can watch them emerge).

The Corona Chronicles entry #3

Day #10

It's difficult to not look at the news all day. I find myself wandering over to the computer and sitting down to just see if anything new is being reported. There is new information coming out about the coronavirus hourly. It can be all consuming. Then it leads to more worry and the cycle continues. I've decided I needed to stop the random internet searches. I don't turn on the tv in the morning anymore to watch the Today Show with all the news anchors broadcasting from their houses. It just isn't healthy for me.

I decided I needed a different sort of outlet. You'd think sculpting would be that but I just can't get motivated to return to my job just yet. I'll get there. I think once we figure out online learning for the kids I'll feel good about going to a quiet room and sculpting. I've got a list of orders, I can only assume they still want their dogs sculpted. In these strange financial times I can see buying sculptures being pretty low on the list of necessities. So instead of looking at the news for hours on end I've decided to start playing video games. It's a great way to distract your mind. There was a game that I'd been wanting to play for awhile but it needed a second player. So Wesley and I have been playing this Playstation 3 game for a couple of weeks off and on. It's a "capture the flag" style game and it's done a fabulous job of keeping my mind off of the happenings in the world. And it's a great way to spend time with my son!

We've been trying to focus on the good things that are going on rather than the bad. Yesterday we drove into town, parked and stood on the corner and watched all the teachers in the elementary school drive by and wave to all the kids. It was a teacher parade meant to raise the spirits of the kids and parents and it did just that. It all made me get choked up. Not sure why, but my emotions are all over the place so I'm blaming that. I read the following today and it raised my spirits and I hope it does yours too.

My heart is heavy... but my infamous saying is Everything happens for a reason and only a season ... so here we are and yet...

The reports are that... the truckers are getting supplies to the stores.

People are stocking the shelves all night and letting old people shop first.

Carnival Cruise line told Trump “We can match those big Navy Hospital ships with some fully staffed cruise ships”

GM said hold our cars and watch this; we can make those ventilators where we were making cars starting next week.

Clothing companies and individuals are making homemade masks for the medical community.

Restaurants and schools said, We’ve got kitchens and staff; we can feed kids.”

Churches are holding on-line services and taking care of their members and community.

NBA basketball players said, “Hold our basketballs while we write checks to pay the arena staff.”

Construction companies said, “Here are some masks for the medical staff and doctors”.

Breweries are making sanitizer out of the left-over ingredients.

Neighbors are encouraging each other by putting up signs, decorating windows for scavenger hunts, singing together and playing music for each other.

It’s only a short season of life.. press on. Love your people and never stop having Faith. 

I’m here for anyone, for anything! I’m thankful we can come together as one. 

We have a wonderful country and an amazing God.

The Corona Chronicles entry #2

 Day #9

I feel like I could write all day about what is happening. It's surreal in a way. I haven't mentioned on here yet that we lost our big black lab Cody back in January. He lived to a nice old age and his health declined to the point that his quality of life was not good. We made the tough decision to put him to sleep on January 21st. Ever since then it's been so quiet around here. The two boston terriers have been pretty mellow, perhaps they are not in their puppy phase anymore (they will be 4 this summer). I started taking peeks at craigslist pet page looking for puppies. I didn't have a good idea of what I wanted, I just knew I didn't want another boston right now (two is plenty!). I wanted more of a laid back breed, perhaps a mutt kind of like Chance. I didn't want a big dog as they do a number on hardwood floors. So one day I found a litter of pups that just called my name. One little guy in particular reminded me so much of Chance that I contacted the owner and scheduled a time to drive the 7 hours round trip to pick him up.

Little Cooper (he's often referred to as Mini Cooper) is such a doll. He was 7 weeks old when we got him and he'll be 3 months old March 27th. He's half shih tzu (his dad) and half border collie (mom). He's long with short legs and giant paws. The vet said he'll be interested to see what he looks like when he's grown. He's brought out the "puppy" in the two boston terriers. He and Winston will play for hours, chewing on each other and racing around the house. Beanie has done a good job of teaching him what is and isn't allowed.

I'm thankful that we have him right now. He's such a joy and brings a smile to our faces with his silly antics. I kid that I'm too busy cleaning up urine to worry about much else that's going on in the world. I figure if we are all sheltering in place what better time to have a puppy? I wish everyone would consider this and clean out the shelters. Instead many people are panicking and dropping their pets off at shelters because of the unknown. Can pets contract the virus? No. But it doesn't stop people from worrying.

The pup has been on a certain puppy food that he's been doing well on. It's only sold at Petsmart (it's their brand of puppy food). I'm supposed to keep him on it for the first year of life. I went to buy a large bag to get us through and the shelves are bare. Everyone is buying loads of extra dog food (pet food in general). I had to go home and order a bag online, pay for it and have it shipped to the store for pick up.

It's one thing to have enough food to feed your family for a month or longer, but to keep your pets fed too is another story.  In our case having enough extra pet food to feed the goats, horses, chickens, guinea pigs, rabbit, cockatiels and cats takes planning! We have plenty of hay and the grass is greening up so that's good.

This could have easily happened in January which would have been, in my opinion, a hundred times worse. Going outside and soaking up the warm sun, jumping on the trampoline, going for a jog or planting a garden is food for the soul. Something we all need.

Take care.

The Corona Chronicles entry #1

Day #8

Boy has a lot changed since my last blog post back in February. The world is upside down. People wearing masks and gloves to go to the grocery store. The death toll today stands at 16,500. I fear this number is just the beginning. We are staying home, Sean is working from home (as he has been since November because mold was found in their building). The kids are home for spring break and we just found out last Tuesday that their school has been closed down for the remainder of the school year. We will attempt online learning starting next Monday.

I know this has been very tough on many people. Business are shutting their doors and sending workers home, some unpaid. People that live paycheck to paycheck are very worried.  Individuals that are used to going out and socializing daily are ordered to stay home. Many people don't cook and rely on eating out. Most restaurants are closed with only the drive through open. Sean and I really enjoyed our weekly lunch date before all of this happened but we are curtailing that activity. I just don't trust other people to make my food right now. This virus can go undetected in healthy individuals and they can transmit it. It's frightening. I worry the most about the elderly, my elderly church friends who are home alone. I pray this doesn't last as long as I fear it will.

 The media has done a pretty good job of painting a bleak and desperate picture of what is happening in the world right now. I'm not blaming them, it's an accurate picture. I just feel it's overwhelming the amount of information, articles and statistics that are being thrown at me every time I turn on the tv or log onto the computer. I have not wanted to leave my house out of pure fear of catching this horrible virus but I needed to get to the grocery store one last time before hunkering down. I researched when the store was opening and decided to be there bright and early and try and beat the crowds. So yesterday I woke up at 5:45 so I could be there right around 6 when they opened. It was dark and raining which I also thought would be a good way to keep people away. Boy was I wrong. Many cars were already in the parking lot when I arrived. There were a mob of people just standing outside each entrance waiting for them to open doors. They opened the doors and these people rush in and went straight for the toilet paper and bread. This store had limited many products to only one per person, so there was actually some left when I finally wheeled my cart over to each section. Although getting only one loaf of bread kind of sucked. I piled my cart high and feel like I have enough meals to easily last my family a month. I'm sure we will run out of fresh fruit after two weeks but canned fruit and applesauce to get us through.

I like to think of myself as sort of a prepper. Several years ago I was very into it. Did lots of research.  I set up a pantry in the basement. I collected canned goods, bottle water, medicine and all sorts of survival gear. What I didn't do a good job of over the years was rotating out the canned goods, flour and sugar. It was too much work to lug all of the groceries down stairs and rotate up the older food and replace with the new food. So a lot of the food down there is past its expiration date. I wish I had done a better job right about now. Luckily I'd been slowly building up that pantry again after I read about how quickly the coronavirus was spreading in China. I felt pretty good about our food supply until I read about how the peak of cases could be as far as 30 days out or more for the US. I thought how much I'd like to hunker down and not leave the house, even for fresh fruit or milk. I also feel quite the burden of being the main food buyer and meal maker. Like, if I mess this up and don't buy enough food I'm going to be out there when this virus is every where. In the air (I read it can remain in the air for up to 3 hours) and on surfaces. It's strange, I've never experienced food anxiety before now.

This strange time we are in right now is something we've all never experienced. It's a completely new situation that we are navigating. I think journal entries will be good to have, to look back and read to my grandchildren one day. Take care.

This and That

Larry, my buddy from church has been asking me to come hammer on some iron with him for a few months. You see he loves blacksmithing and has been doing it for many years. I told him a while back that I think it would be fun to learn and so I got the opportunity to try my hand at it. He hauls around a flat bed trailer with all his equipment and brings it to city events to do demonstrations. I showed up a few weeks ago and he taught me how to crank the air blower that keeps the fire super hot and how to hammer iron into shapes. I was amazed at all the tools he made to shape the iron into cabinet handles and such. He's quite the artist. It was fun (and very cold unless you were next to the fire). I look forward to trying my hand at another project, I think we are going to try a boot scraper next.

I really enjoy growing food and my friend at church figured that out pretty quickly after I met her. She's in charge of the Tower Gardens that the church has and was looking for another person to help out with them. They can be time consuming when it comes to cleaning, harvesting and replanting them. We harvest the lettuce, kale and herbs and provide them to the congregation (the congregation purchased them so it's a way to give back). My friend who does the church towers was pregnant and has since had her baby the end of December so now I'm in charge of the church Tower Gardens (and my own at home) and I spend a decent amount of time each Sunday making sure there is water in the tanks and harvesting them. They sure are beautiful!

I've been taking the two Boston Terriers to school in the afternoon to pick up the kids. They get SO excited! They are hyperactive and psychotic as it is so this just pushes them over the limit. Wesley is in scholars bowl this year and so we wait for 20 minutes after school to pick him up which means several dozen kids walk past the car. The dogs get so excited to see each and every kid and each kid gets very excited to see the dogs. It's become a fun tradition.

Here's our silly selfie with Beanie. I think she's smiling in it.

Since I'm sharing dog pictures here are Winston and Bean all cozy on the couch with their new blanket. These dogs have no hair or body fat to keep them warm and shake often during the winter (in our 72 degree house). They have a bed next to the sliding glass south facing window and will soak up the sun until they are panting (and still don't move). They are crazy little dogs and we love them.